In particular climates it is desired to heat, thaw and prevent the freezing of fluid sources such as dugouts, tanks and ponds.
In large storage containers, keeping fluids from freezing has always been a serious problem. In the past hot oilers and heat exchangers have been used. The drawbacks of these are that they are inefficient and have high safety risks. Hot oilers arrive at a site and circulate fluid through an onboard heat exchanger, raising the temperature of the fluid to a very high temperature. In addition to being highly inefficient, these high temperatures, operating a high pressure creates a safety risk.
The hot oiler leaves the site and later returns to start the process over again. Because of the in-efficiency of the hot oiler it also makes the operating cost very high. The process of heating fluids is less efficient the higher the temperature of the fluid. It is more efficient to heat a large volume of fluid to just above freezing and keep it at this temperature constant then to heat it up to high temperature and let cool once again.
Therefore, a system for keeping high volumes of fluid from freezing is desired.
Further, a system for keeping fluids from freezing with minimal intervention is desired.
Even further, a system to provide safe, continuous heat, and to easily and quickly thaw or warm bodies of fluid is desired.